Apparently, on Christmas Day there was some tenderness in the way John Paul II looked at Jesus lying in a manger in each of the nativity scenes in the Papal house and in the huge one on the St. Peter’s Square. All the time he was waiting for the Christmas blessing of Urbi et Orbi. And, wishes in dozens of languages of the world. It was a sea of heads. Thousands of people around the Christmas tree and the nativity scene – the Archbishop recalls. And, it was endearing that on such a day they wanted to be with the Holy Father. That must have touched him. That was the community he was talking about. Literally – around this manger. That must have made him happy. “The Divine Child born in Bethlehem in His little hands brings to humanity the gift of hope for peace” – he said one year. In this Christmas Papal message one could hear fatherly love. He saw that these hands were small. And, they brought us so much. Everything we need. In addition to this most important message, the Holy Father always referred to current problems, to conflicts that brought suffering and death to people. “At the crib in which you lie defenseless, may all violence that spreads and causes indescribable suffering cease”- he appealed during the last Christmas Urbi et Orbi – “may cease the many hotbeds of tension threatening to break out open conflicts; May the desire to seek peaceful solutions deepen.”
With the consent of Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki – “Place for everyone”
Znak Publishing House, Kraków 2013.
